NY Shooter: 'What I Like Best' Is 'Killing People'

William Spengler left rambling note describing intent to burn down the neighborhood
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 25, 2012 11:29 AM CST
NY Shooter: 'What I Like Best' Is 'Killing People'
This image taken from WHAM13-TV, shows homes on fire in an area where a gunman ambushed four volunteer firefighters early Monday, Dec. 24, 2012, in Webster, NY.   (AP Photo/WHAM13-TV via AP video)

The Western New York gunman who yesterday morning lured firefighters to his blazing home just to shoot them down left a chilling, typewritten note, reports the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like best: killing people,” wrote William Spengler in a note that investigators said was a rambling two or three pages. It gave no clue as to Spengler's motive, they said in a press conference this morning.

For an ex-convict barred from owning guns, Spengler had some pretty serious firepower on him, including a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, and a Bushmaster .223—the same weapon Adam Lanza carried into Sandy Hook Elementary. Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said police weren't sure which weapon killed two firefighters and injured three others, but said “We’re assuming it was the rifle, because of the distance.” "It was a combat condition,” he said of the scene yesterday morning. Police "were shooting at muzzle flash." Investigators and firefighters are continuing to comb through the scene today, and have still not located Spengler's 67-year-old sister, Cheryl Spengler. (More William Spengler stories.)

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